MAIDUGURI, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Islamist group Boko Haram attacked the house of an army general in northeast Nigeria's Borno state overnight, triggering a gun battle with soldiers guarding it that left one of them dead, police said on Wednesday.

Police commissioner Lawal Tanko for Borno state, which is the centre of an Islamist insurgency, said General Umar Tukur Buratai was not at his residence when it was attacked.

"The soldiers succeded in repelling the attacks on Buratai resulting in minimal damage," he said, confirming that one soldier was killed. There was a separate attack on the town of Bama, he added, although he did not have further details.